1. Field of the Invention
Example embodiments of the present invention relate to a method of synthesizing a material, and more particularly, to a method of synthesizing carbon nanotubes.
2. Description of the Related Art
A carbon nanotube may have a tube structure with a diameter of several nm. Carbon nanotubes may be categorized as single-wall nanotubes having one wall and multi-wall nanotubes having two or more walls. A carbon nanotube may have a different structure from other conventional materials and may have unique physical properties. For example, a carbon nanotube may be an electrical conductor or a semiconductor, depending on its structure.
Carbon nanotubes may be applied to various fields due to their unique shape and/or electrical properties. For example, a carbon nanotube may be used as an emission tip of a field emission display (FED), a quantum wire, a hydrogen storage container and an SPM probe, and may be used in nano-semiconductor devices, nanochemistry and biosensors, fuel cells, and/or other applications.
Known methods of synthesizing carbon nanotubes (hereinafter referred to as conventional synthesis methods) may include arc discharging, a laser vaporization, a chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and/or other methods.
In conventional synthesis methods, carbon nanotubes may be synthesized at high temperature and/or low pressure. Therefore, to use conventional synthesis methods, separate equipment for synthesizing the carbon nanotubes in which high temperature and/or low pressure processing conditions can be attained may be required.
Further, in conventional synthesis methods, undesired byproducts, for example, carbon particles, carbon nanoparticles, amorphous carbon, and multi-wall carbon nanotubes, may be formed together with the single-wall carbon nanotubes. Thus, to obtain the single-wall carbon nanotubes, a complicated purification process may also be required.
When synthesizing single-wall carbon nanotubes using the conventional synthesis methods, separate synthesis equipment may be required and/or a complicated purification process may be required, and thus mass-production may be more difficult and/or production costs may be higher.